"These observations offer new windows into planets nearing the end of their lives, before their host stars swallow them up.".
In turn, altering the planets' orbit around a parent star could destabilize an entire planetary system or cause the planets to collide as they get closer to each other.
In addition, as the planets spiral in toward their host stars, they are heated, which can trigger atmospheric changes, such as swelling.
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NASA's recently-launched James Webb Space Telescope could also help identify the composition of the planets' atmospheres and, in turn, where the planets formed and how they ended up in such a close-knit orbit around their parent star. .
"The rapid changes of the star combined with the short orbital periods of these planets imply these planets should be consumed by their host stars faster than almost any other known planets," Grunblatt said during the news conference."Continuing the study of these systems could tell us how giant planets move throughout their lives, how that affects their smaller neighbors and then puffs them up during a fiery death dive into their host stars.".